The price of a loaf of bread in Zimbabwe shot up by 6.8 percent from $88 to $94 due to an increase in the cost of production, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Friday.
The president of the National Bakers Association of Zimbabwe Dennis Wallah told the Herald that increases in utility charges and the price of fuel meant costs of production and distribution costs had increased.
“It is not a hidden fact that the price of fuel went up, so obviously distribution cost goes up,” Wallah said.
“Utilities have also moved astronomically high. All these factors result in the cost of the product spiralling upwards.”
Zimbabwe’s already-struggling economy, which has been hit harder by the effects of the pandemic, has recently seen a significant rise in utility costs, with some charges, such as water bills, increasing by more than 300 percent.
Moreover, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority has reviewed the price of fuel upwards twice since the beginning of the year citing an increase in oil prices in the international market.
Despite these developments, a spokesperson for the National Consumer Rights Association, Effie Ncube, said there was “absolutely no justification whatsoever” for the rise in bread prices.
“Fuel and other utilities dominate the price of services and goods downstream, but
there is no justification to the mark-ups that they did even taking that into account,” Ncube told the Herald.
“They need to develop to a business model that allows them as businesses to function and prosper without constantly rising prices like what they are doing.”
Zimbabwe is facing one of its worst crises in decades as it grapples with runaway inflation and spiralling commodity and fuel prices amidst a food shortage.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
